The present disclosure relates to distributed transmission systems and electro-mechanical means for tapping to the transmission line for passively coupling a maximum number of users to the transmission line. Such a system, a microcircuit tap and an associated transceiver design are disclosed and described more fully in the copending application Ser. Nos. 023,795 and 023,802, respectively entitled High Impedance, Tap For Tapped Bus Transmission Systems and High Impedance, Manchester (3 State) To TTL (2 Wire, 2 State) Transceiver For Tapped Bus Transmission) Systems, of the present inventors filed on Mar. 23, 1979. In any given distributed transmission system having the requirement of minimizing point-to-point wiring, while maintaining optimum data communications between an optimum number of geographically and functionally distinct users, it is necessary to make numerous connections or taps to the transmission line. As the number of taps increase however, the problems associated with loading and reflections on the transmission line, which affect the integrity of the information being transmitted and received over the line, become more critical.
In a tapped transmission system transmitting and receiving information at many points separated by considerable cable length, the number of possible taps to the line degenerates rapidly as the level of the aggregate reflection signal of the system approaches the signal level and as the aggregate loading loss increases due to impedance mismatches. To minimize these problems and increase the number of possible taps, an improved transmission line connector was designed to reduce the component of the reflection signal and the loading losses which occur at each connector affixed to the line.